My wife works in a restaurant, and the power-tripping manager has instituted a new policy where all shift changes must be approved by management. I think that is reasonable enough, but they’re also asking the originally-scheduled employee why they are switching shifts, then approving or denying based on the answer.
For example, her coworker (Tom) wanted Monday afternoon off, and Harry agreed to cover the shift. The manager asked Tom why he wanted Harry to work for him, and Tom said, “I have a softball game.” Manager denied the shift change because it was “unnecessary”.
Is this legal? I feel like if you’re able to find someone to cover your shift, you don’t owe management any explanation why you need the time off. How should my wife approach this situation? Colorado, USA BTW.
I’m not sure it would be legal if they were forced to reveal medical information.
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Right, but if you’re request for denied for something medically necessary unless you revealed it, you went anyway (because it’s necessary), and then you got fired… That feels like it shouldn’t be legal (obviously that doesn’t mean that it isn’t).
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People think hippa is magical medical privacy. It has fuck all to do with telling your manager anything. It only applies to medical professionals or those who may see your records as part of their job. If your manager also processes insurance claims, then it applies, otherwise it’s not different than telling a neighbor.
That would be a violation, but it is perfectly m legal to ask if someone is going on generic “sick” or “medical” time off or leave. Every company I’ve ever worked for has had be declare my PTO as sick leave or discretionary time off. And the latter is what it means, it’s at the discretion of the manager to approve it.
Sure, but that assumes this manager would be happy with generic “medical stuff” as an answer…
Worst comes to worst, they could ask for a doctor’s note. And doctors notes are always pretty generic and basically say “yup, they can’t work.” But if the manager does ask for Dr’s notes, they need to apply the policy equally to all employees.
It’s usually a HIPAA violation if an employer asks for specifics about a medical issue.
Source: I’m a people manager who has had to go through a bunch of trainings about these laws.
Sorry but most restaurant work doesn’t come with paid time off or sick leave. You either work and get paid or don’t work and don’t get paid.